Mad Dogs British Pub has been in San Antonio since 1995, and its CEO wants to franchise the concept in Houston, Dallas and Austin.

Mad Dogs British Pub has been in San Antonio since 1995, and its CEO wants to franchise the concept in Houston, Dallas and Austin.

Photo: JOHN DAVENPORT:, Express-News

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Fish and chips are a popular menu item at Mad Dogs British Pub. The owners want a restaurant in Houston.

Fish and chips are a popular menu item at Mad Dogs British Pub. The owners want a restaurant in Houston.

Photo: JOHN DAVENPORT:, Express-News

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Mad Dogs British Pub wants to sell franchises

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SAN ANTONIO — Mad Dogs British Pub, a fixture on the River Walk for 15 years, is set to expand its brand in Texas.

The executives for the lively bar and restaurant are confident that they can franchise their pub concept, first targeting Houston, Austin and Dallas and their home base of San Antonio.

"We're proud of our iconic British brand, which we think has worldwide appeal," Mad Dogs CEO Terry Corless said in a recent interview. "We're always talking about possible growth opportunities, and we feel we have significant brand qualities and characteristics to franchise."

Corless and his partner, Justin Bentley-Marchant, hope to open two franchises in Texas by July 2011 and another three by July 2012. By mid-2015, they plan on having as many as 20 franchised pubs opened or in development.

Mad Dogs, a tenant on the River Walk level at the Hyatt Regency downtown, has long been a popular stop on the River Walk.

"I think we've done more liquor, beer and wine sales than anyone on the River Walk," Corless said. "Obviously, we've got a good location."

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Mad Dogs is a "one-stop shop" for tourists and conventioneers, he said, offering a place to eat, drink, buy souvenirs or pop open a laptop for the pub's wireless Internet.

"We have appeal to almost everybody who comes to the River Walk," Corless said. "If people are here for a convention, we're a meeting place during the day, and they may well return to us in the evening for our happy hour and live entertainment."

Tim Campion, vice president of sales and marketing at San Antonio beer wholesaler GLI Distributing, said Mad Dogs "has been a customer since the day they opened. Within the arena of the pub and bar restaurants, they're a very substantial customer."

Two Scots

Mad Dogs has a United Kingdom pedigree. Mad Dogs was born in 1984 in Hong Kong, then a British colony. It was the brainchild of two Scots, Laura McAllister and Andy Neilson.

Mad Dogs added a location in San Antonio after Belton Kleberg "B.K." Johnson, an heir to the King Ranch fortune who built the Hyatt Regency hotel on Alamo Plaza, traveled to Hong Kong and met McAllister, whom he would later marry.

Johnson formed a partnership with McAllister, and Mad Dogs opened on the Hyatt's River Walk level in 1995.

McAllister remains a shareholder in Mad Dogs.

Corless is confident that future Mad Dogs franchisees can prosper in other Texas cities, even with competition from independent British or Irish pubs and chains such as Bennigan's Grill & Tavern franchises,because Mad Dog is as close to a British pub as he can make it.

The pub is stuffed with authentic décor, and Corless, a native of Cambridge, England, who's managed luxury hotels, including a 1,200-room property in Dubai, strives to make the food as much like British pub food as possible.

Margaritas and nachos

"It took me five years to get real English sausages," he said. At the same time, "we wouldn't think of getting rid of margaritas and nachos in San Antonio."

Corless said the company often gets queries from customers, usually businesspeople, who ask if Mad Dogs is franchised.

"That's one of the reasons we thought of franchising," Corless said. "Now, we're federally legal to franchise."

The Federal Trade Commission requires a franchisor to prepare a disclosure document for potential franchisees, a hurdle that Mad Dogs has jumped.

Not cheap

Being a Mad Dogs franchisee won't be cheap. The initial investment for a Mad Dogs British Pub will range from $601,925 to $1.4 million. The estimate includes a franchise fee of $40,000. Franchisees will pay a royalty fee of 6 percent of gross sales and will contribute to an advertising fund.